Kedarnath yatra suspended till Tuesday

The fresh monsoon incessant rain took a toll on holy Kedarnath yatra suspending it till 30 June. The rainfall lashed out bridges and trigerred minor landslides which left the pilgrims stranded in several places. The rescue operations are active and is evacuating people by land and air means. Nearly, 3,000 Hemkund Sahib pilgrims are stranded at Ghangaria. Many of them have been airlifted to Gobind Ghat.

Landslides are witnessed in Lambagad due to which Badrinath yatra is also disrupted for a while. The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is working on clearing the debris from the route. The yatra to the shrines of Gangotri and Yamunotri was, however, continuing smoothly with reports of minor landslides.

Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat said the Char Dham is regulated not suspended claiming the state government had taken all pre measures to face the situation. The necessary arrangements and precautions have helped the yatra to move smoothly.

Meanwhile, Veena Gupta (54) from New Delhi, part of the first batch of Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims, died early today in Tibet. According to ITBP sources, the woman died after she developed symptoms of mountain sickness just after the Chinese guides left the pilgrims at the Lipulekh pass to cross over to India.

The rest of the members of the batch have entered India from Tibet and reached at the Nabhidhank camp, the Chinese authorities are yet to hand over the dead pilgrim to their Indian counterparts.